Damon Albarn Prepares Opera And Album With Flea

Gorillaz and Blur main man Damon Albarn debuts his new opera, and will work on an instrumental album with Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Albarn is behind a new work called Doctor Dee: An English Opera, which chronicles the life of controversial mathematician, alchemist and confidant of Queen Elizabeth John Dee.

He told the Guardian that he, the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, actors, dancers, and 70-year-old Nigerian drummer Tony Allen (who appeared on his The Good, The Bad And The Queen project) will deliver a musical piece that explores “relationships, religion, hedonism, the reinvention of ritual . . . and politics, a little bit. There's a lot going on.”

Dee’s story sounds fascinating, and the operatic retelling equally interesting, in the article which can be read in full here.

But it’s by no means all that Albarn has going on at the moment. Once the opera finishes its Manchester run in July and moves to the London Coliseum for the Cultural Olympiad, he’ll head to the Congo to work with other DJs and producers on sampling Congolese music.

Then he plans to finish off a mostly instrumental album with Tony Allen and Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

And, as the Guardian article quotes him, attempting to make “The most cheesy pop record ever” after that.